Born and raised Portuguese. I have lived in Poland, Brazil, Czech Republic and now I'm in the beautiful Sweden.

My blog, just like my brain, is a blend of languages. Welcome!

terça-feira, 13 de dezembro de 2016

Sankta Lucia

Today is celebrated Saint Lucy, or Sankta Lucia in Swedish. In a nutshell, Saint Lucy was a kind woman that lived in the 1300s, in Italy, that helped prisoners by bringing them food. Since it was dark, she couldn't both carry the food and light at the same time, so she used candles on her head to illuminate the way. Later on she was tortured and became a martyr. Why is this saint celebrated in Sweden when the tale is originally from Italy is not really know, but here are many theories and stories around it.

Nowadays, Sankta Lucia is celebrated mostly in schools by chanting Lucia songs, but it also happens that a choir is found singing in the city. The group of singers are all dressed in white and hold candles in their hands. A girl/woman, that is selected in advance to represent Lucia, has four candles in the head. Afterwards, everybody gathers together for a fika (swedish word for coffee break), where Lussebuns (Lussekatter in Swedish), among others, are served.

Lussekatter are super yummy saffron buns, with two raisins each, usually in the shape of an S. Because life is all about integration in new cultures (and I love to try new recipes!), me, Johan and his mum decided to bake Lussekatter last weekend. It was really fun and they turned out really fluffy and good.